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Post by w8in4dave on Feb 26, 2014 10:59:06 GMT -5
I was going to collect some sap last couple weeks ! It was perfect for it! It warmed up and then My ex passed away we had company they had to dig the soil pipe up the ditch froze and my basement flooded I'm like "Really?"!!! What eles can go wrong! So not it is below 0 again! Ughhh I was so going to do this! Ohh well I know a guy that sells it
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Feb 26, 2014 11:00:49 GMT -5
Pardon my ignorance, but can't you still do it the next time it warms up?
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Post by w8in4dave on Feb 26, 2014 11:10:36 GMT -5
Maby but I have 3 birthday partys for 3 grand kids and I don't want to start something I cannot finish. I hate to collect if I cant get to it. Hubbs is working 10/7's and I was actually expecting a lil help. Now we don't have any wood to cook it up with Pfftt So it is that to.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Feb 26, 2014 11:13:25 GMT -5
Oh, I see. Well, maybe next year will work out better.
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Post by bestofour on Feb 26, 2014 11:33:09 GMT -5
w8in, I always figured the sap would flow better if it wasn't freezing and I know you've been frozen for a while now. Did you already put in taps? How many trees do you have? Do you think you'll get to it at all this year?
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Post by w8in4dave on Feb 26, 2014 16:03:58 GMT -5
Bestofour , I don't think I will get to it. It got warmer and it was flowing, but with our pipes frozen and company came in and stuff I just didn't have time. Then it got cold. Now when it warms back up I could probably do it. But Hubbs needs to make sure I have enuf wood so I can cook it down and I need the taps and stuff. We have 6 trees I think. But with him working 10/7s its not going to happen.
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Post by bestofour on Feb 27, 2014 9:07:08 GMT -5
So do you cook it outside right when you get it from the tree?
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Post by w8in4dave on Feb 27, 2014 10:47:39 GMT -5
So do you cook it outside right when you get it from the tree? Yes you cook it outside , there is alot of moisture you have to cook down. It take 40 gallons of Sap to make 1 gal od syrup. Thats how much you have to boil it down.
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Post by bestofour on Feb 27, 2014 12:58:24 GMT -5
that's a lot of work for 1 gallon. It better taste real good.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Feb 27, 2014 13:22:11 GMT -5
Now you know why 100% maple syrup is so expensive.
(Even though big producers have automated sap collection systems, use reverse-osmosis to draw off some of the water before cooking, and use energy-efficient boilers, it still costs a lot for the energy and labor to produce maple syrup.)
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Post by horsea on Apr 30, 2014 16:36:16 GMT -5
Speaking of maple sap. Yesterday a relative of mine who has a farm with lots of old maple trees brought me about 6 quarts of partly-boiled sap. He does this in his old shack of a house where it doesn't matter if the moisture ruins the place even more, I guess.
So as we speak, I'm busy completing the boiling and have made 3 pints so far. Yiperoo! This tastes so good. This relative lets me keep most of the final product. Pretty generous, huh.
I'm tapping a lone birch tree here, but the ratio of sap:syrup is 100:1, I'm told. I'm not holding my breath for anything more than 1/4 cup of Birch Syrup.
P.S. Several years ago this fellow brought me about 15 gallons of completely raw sap and expected me to cook it up for him on my kitchen stove. I didn't realize what would happen: most of the house was 100% humidity as a result, all the windows fogged & dripping, etc.
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dogfish
Junior Member
Posts: 56
Joined: January 2014
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Post by dogfish on Apr 30, 2014 20:13:07 GMT -5
Ok, I do some of this. It is an awesome hobby. Best collection times is when it go's below 32 deg during the night and above during the day. Best to boil outside to start and depending on your operation possibly finish off on the stove. There are proub some websites out there on sugering but I can try to answer any questions you might have.
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Post by horsea on Apr 30, 2014 20:53:03 GMT -5
... There are proub some websites out there on sugering but I can try to answer any questions you might have. Alrighty! I put aside a couple of cups of finished syrup and then boiled it at 235 deg. F. to make maple "butter". It's cooled down now, thick & syrupy & dark; and now we are supposed to beat it for half an hour to get it to crystalize and turn light in colour. I don't have a Mixmaster, so if it was you, what would you do, how would you make the butter with minimal effort? Could I just freeze it or something...I dunno.
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dogfish
Junior Member
Posts: 56
Joined: January 2014
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Post by dogfish on May 5, 2014 9:04:58 GMT -5
No clue never made butter.
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Post by horsea on May 5, 2014 13:08:38 GMT -5
Okay. I'll just whip it for awhile til it gets beige and then refrigerate it. But you are supposed to whit it till it gets a certain kind of powdery texture, I am told. And that apparently takes a long time.
So, how much syrup do you have this year?
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dogfish
Junior Member
Posts: 56
Joined: January 2014
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Post by dogfish on May 5, 2014 13:24:09 GMT -5
Spent much of my sugar season on the road for work. Had my neighbor lend a hand with it this year so I could get anything. I am not a big production if I get two gallons of amber I am doing good. This year we got around one and one half gallons (only had twelve buckets out).
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Post by horsea on Aug 26, 2014 14:36:59 GMT -5
My birch syrup tastes rather awful. I do not know what I did wrong. To hell with it. I collected gallons & gallons of sap and ended up with less than a cup of syrup - and it tastes bad. What a fool experiment...
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Aug 29, 2014 7:44:28 GMT -5
Sorry to hear that.
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Post by horsea on Aug 31, 2014 1:05:53 GMT -5
Ah, thanks. I always love sympathy.
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